AN ANTIQUARIAN and rare book shop – described as one of the best in Britain – has been nominated for The Press Shop of the Year award.

Ken Spelman Books, in Micklegate, has private and library customers all over the world and a stock of more than 40,000 books on all subjects. Tony Fothergill, one of the store’s proud owners, who has nominated the shop, said it had been providing people with books “old, rare and readable” for more than 50 years.

“One of the last remaining traditional bookshops in the country, and it still wraps all the customers’ purchases in fine green paper,” he said. “And it has perhaps the only bookshop with a real coal fire. Truly, one of York’s institutions, and worth celebrating.”

The shop has won plaudits from national newspapers and organisations.

The Royal Society of Literature claimed it was one of the best independent retailers in the country, and the Independent said it was one of the ten best rare bookshops in Britain and the Times describing it as a “true treasure trove”.

Its books cover a range of topics including the fine arts, architecture, garden design, literature, history, science and technology, and philosophy.

The Shop Of The Year award, intended to reward and recognise exceptional quality of service, is part of the York Means Business campaign, which aims to promote and support businesses across York, North and East Yorkshire during the recession.

The winner will enjoy a night for two at York’s luxurious Dean Court Hotel, overlooking the Minster, before a champagne breakfast and then a trip in a stretch limo with White Stretch Limousines of Riccall to York Racecourse, to attend The Press Family Raceday.